Tooth and Nail (2007) User Reviews (58)

Not very good.

[hexrei · 4/10 · 10 December 2008]

I'm astonished that some people are rating this movie a 9 or 10. It really just isn't that good. Sadly, it had all the tools to be successful, including an interesting premise, a wealth of experienced acting talent, a great filming location, and convincing effects (although this being 2008 you can't really give much credit for the latter anymore).

Unfortunately, they still managed to screw it up. The villains' actions didn't make much sense, neither did the protagonists', for that matter. They consistently made really stupid decisions, presumably to create tension and a "stalking killers" feel, except the killers weren't scary. The "twist" was predictable and lame. Dialog was passable, but nothing to write home about. I did feel the actors all delivered the best performance they could with what they had, but there just wasn't much to work with.

The script really needed a couple of critical rewrites before going into production, I actually laughed out loud at the cliché "dramatic face painting in preparation for war" scene near the end. The ending is frankly boring and unsatisfying. Instead of this movie, you could just watch Mad Max and Doomsday while completely hammered, then take the resulting mess of memories and remove anything entertaining or intriguing, it will be the same experience but far more fun.

Disappointing post-apocalyptic horror

[The_Void · 5/10 · 30 October 2008]

Tooth and Nail is yet another film handling the idea of the majority of the population being killed off and the rest living in a barren wasteland. There are plenty of these films about, and most of them are better than this one as Mark Young's film adds nothing new to the concept and as such is really disappointing. The film does actually benefit from a very well done atmosphere - most of it takes place at night and the director constantly enforces the idea that the central characters are in a hopeless situation. However, the good things about it end there. As mentioned, the film takes place in the future and we focus on a group of people (lead by a college professor) that have holed up in an old abandoned hospital. Of course they plan to rebuild civilisation from the ground up; but their plan hits a stumbling block when they come across another gang of survivors. This gang calls themselves 'The Rovers' and just happen to be cannibals. Naturally, our group find themselves on the menu and have to fight to survive.

Mark Young's screenplay is really weak. The characters are all non-entities and many lines of dialogue are awful, which doesn't exactly help. The film does not feature even nearly enough tension or suspense and spends far too much time focusing on bickering within the central group; which is at times painful since none of the lead actors can act. Even when the film does start to feature a bit more action; it's not well filmed or exciting. Most of the cast is made up of unknown performers, but there are three exceptions, in the form of Robert Carradine, Vinnie Jones and Michael Madsen; who have small and rather ineffective roles. There are a few gory scenes in the film, but nothing to write home about. It's really a shame that the film turned out like this as while there are a lot of post-apocalyptic films about; this type of film can be really well done if handled correctly. The ending is fairly good and the little twist at the end is nice; but overall this is not good horror and represents yet another underwhelming entry in Afterdark's '8 Films to Die For' collection.

Slow and lacking internal logic

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 28 July 2008]

From last years 8 films to die for this is the story of group of people who have survived after society has collapsed on itself when the gas ran out. Not long after rescuing a young girl the survivors who have been living in a hospital find themselves stalked by a group of cannibals. Slow and not very clever end of the world tale that has a couple of nice twists sprinkled through it. (unfortunately the twists would give away details so I can't really discuss them.) Regrettably outside of the twists the film doesn't offer much else. Its too leisurely paced to build terror and the film suffers from chasms of broken internal logic-chief among them why would a group of people live in a place that had no defenses, or even a locked door. Its a mess. Despite having flaws it is watchable, though its probably best watched while doing something else (I'm guessing that you'll probably fall asleep if you watch it straight). 4 out of 10

Nothing to sink your teeth into.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 1 June 2008]

Imagine that you are one of a small community living in a huge abandoned hospital after the fall of civilisation.

Do you a) fortify a section of the building to protect against attackers and methodically search for useful supplies, weapons and food? or b) elect a useless leader (who is happy to spend his day banging his woman), leave all the hospital entrances open, and not worry too much about food and weapons, since you have plenty of tasteless army rations and at least two guns and a handful of bullets in case of an emergency?

If you answered 'a', then you fully deserve the 'Max Rockatansky Award for Successful Post-Apocalyptic Survival; if your answer was 'b', then pray that civilisation never crumbles: you're clearly not built for life in a world thrown into utter chaos.

Now imagine you're a member of group of survivors that have been driven to cannibalism due to a lack of food. You and your pals have several people trapped inside a large building; they are outnumbered, poorly armed, unorganised, and ripe for the picking.

Do you a) storm in there, take them all alive (to keep the meat fresh), and cart them off to your lair? OR b) devise an elaborate plan to get one of your people to infiltrate the group, then wait until nightfall, when the building is plunged into total darkness, and take just one victim, leaving the rest for another night-time visit at a later date?

If you answered 'a', then congratulations—you have the makings of a successful (and well-fed) cannibal; if you answered 'b' then you're as stupid as the bad-guys in Tooth and Nail, and fully deserve to have your own ass handed to you on a plate.

Full of annoying characters incapable of making a decent decision, Tooth and Nail is a dreary piece of dreck that struggles desperately for a sense of realism, but only manages to bore in the process. Whereas recent post-apocalyptic effort Doomsday revelled in its sheer cheesiness but suffered somewhat due to a lack of a thoughtful plot, Tooth and Nail proves to be the 'anti-Doomsday' of the genre, taking itself far too seriously and severely lacking any sense of fun.

Writer/director Mark Young's script is extremely weak, with it's 'undercover cannibal' plot device being neither particularly convincing nor totally unexpected, and there is plenty of banal dialogue to bog down proceedings even further. The direction is also rather uninspired, and with much of the action taking place in the dark, the film is a real strain on the eyes (and one's patience); it also makes seeing what might've been some half-decent scenes of gore almost impossible to make out.

I rate Tooth and Nail a disappointing 3.5 out of 10. Normally, I would round this up to 4 for IMDb, but thanks to a ridiculous final shot of a cannibalistic Vinnie Jones gurning maniacally through a window, it gets rounded down to a 3!

Boring and Awful

[Carrigon · 1/10 · 6 January 2008]

This movie is horrible. It's a bunch of boring people sitting around a room talking and talking about boring stuff. It's like being stuck in someone's horrible poli sci college class or something. I almost walked out, and then like twenty minutes in, one of these guys gets his throat cut. And I was like, wow, maybe stuff will happen now. But no. They went back to the room with the boring stupid talk. By the time the bad guys finally show up, you're just praying for all these losers to get it.

The script is one of the worst I've seen in awhile. The sets couldn't be more boring than if you took a cam corder down to your community college. The cast cannot save this film. If I hadn't seen some of them in other movies, I'd swear they couldn't even act. I guess they were slumming it with this thing. Don't waste your time or money. It's not even worthy of a Saturday SciFi Channel showing.

Real potential wasted...

[mattressman_pdl · 5/10 · 12 April 2008]

In the barren landscape of a post-apocalyptic America, a small group of survivors (largely teenagers/young adults, conveniently) find themselves up against a group of cannibals who kill seemingly at random and who seem to only come out at night.

Good news: Robert Carradine is always watchable in his underused character, and character actors Vinnie Jones and Michael Madsen are fun if completely underutilized. Some nice, messy kills and a few scenes with passable suspense.

Bad News: So much potential, the film tries in it's final minutes to be more clever and intelligent than it is, forgetting the cardinal rule to horror movies in this category: Stay tongue in cheek, stop pretending like the audience hasn't seen this done before...and much better, too.

Umm, they had a rifle, and the cannibals lined up outside....

[c_fisher1928 · 6/10 · 5 April 2008]

This movie was "okay". It is passably amusing to see Michael Madsen basically being "Mr. Blonde" with an axe. The actress who plays Dakota also seems reasonably talented and probably deserves better things.

There's a few really terrible gaps in logic. The first of which is of course why a group of post Peak Oil/societal collapse survivors would find cannibalism such a strange prospect. If they were alive that long after things fell apart, you'd think that they'd have been a savvy bunch and probably armed to the teeth. They were neither.

There's an interesting scene where the mind sort of boggles. The bad guy cannibals all line up outside and show themselves. The folks inside have a rifle. It apparently never seems to enter their minds to simply shoot the guys outside while they're standing there looking menacing...

It's also an odd tactic for a supposedly successful group of cannibalistic hunters to do something like that, as again, simply shoot them when they're all lined up.

Eh. Turn your brain off and this is an okay film.

Just disappointing... (contains spoiler)

[jltrail · 2/10 · 16 January 2008]

Going into Tooth and Nail, I was excited, Horrorfest is an opportunity to get away from the typical Hollywood narratives and enjoy some good old fashioned gore, and I have to say I was impressed with the first half of the film. It addresses a topic that is still untouched, in horror films at least, and is able to play off of human nature quite well. While the acting left something to be desired and the opening monologue made me want to scream, I was intrigued by the story and willing to go where the narrative took me. I was however disappointed at the Viking-like appearance of the cannibals, it was obvious from the start that they would not be the victors in this film. I also felt that it was all too predictable that Victoria would be rescued when she was captured, and then she would be the only one with the brains to overcome the obviously stupid cannibals, which she is able to do through the simple trick of not showing her drugging bodies. I felt that this ending was too much of a cop out. Her transformation into an "angel of death" is something common seen in the women who survive horror films, and I found myself rooting for the cannibals to overcome this tired convention.

This film had the potential to become something great but instead tripped and fell into the stereotypical ending of the horror genre, the Final Girl is able to overcome evil and escape into the world, bringing with her Nova, a child that represents hope for the future of mankind. It seems that the filmmakers were afraid to make a film that presented a truly bleak outlook for the future and instead chose to end the film in a typical Hollywood fashion.

Little slow, predictable but breaks away from some clichés

[Sabalon · 6/10 · 28 March 2008]

I went into this expecting something like Mad Max meets Land of the Dead. It was not as grim as I had hoped. Once you get past the obvious messages about gasoline reliance, it isn't that terrible at all.

While some of the acting isn't the most solid and sometimes stereotypical, overall they way the characters act and cope are done pretty well. There are a few pretty gory moments if that is your thing.

As I said in my summary, it is pretty predictable what will happen, who is the bad and good guys, surprise salvations, etc... However, the one thing that struck me watching it that is atypical for a "people being hunted by crazies" movie is that when someone was taken down, they don't get back up and seem invincible. No machete through the stomach and still kicking butt bad guys, which was a welcome change.

Children of the Dark

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 21 June 2010]

When the world ran out gas, sooner the reserves of supply finished; without power to move machines, preserve and transport food and control the environment, came chaos and anarchy. In the post-apocalyptic Philadelphia, nine survivors led by Professor Darwin (Robert Carradine) live in an abandoned hospital sharing their supplies. When they find a young woman being attacked, they rescue her and bring her to their community. She introduces herself as Neon (Rachel Miner) and is welcomed by Darwin. But sooner they are attacked by violent strangers named Rovers; Darwin vanishes and Neon explains that they are cannibals. The survivors split and during the night, they have to fight to survive.

"Tooth & Nail" is a dark movie about a post-apocalyptic society where the stronger survive. The forgettable story is violent and entertains. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Os Encurralados" ("The Trapped Ones")

"We simply ran out of gas."

[Backlash007 · 29 June 2008]

~Spoiler~

Quite ironic that a post-apocalyptic film about the loss of gas runs out of gas itself all too soon. Tooth and Nail, part of the After Dark Horrorfest 2007, is missing one essential element that makes all of the 80's, Italian "apoc" movies classics: Fun. This movie is just not fun. It takes place in the near future where, because of the gas shortage, society has broken down into the peaceful foragers and the cannibalistic rovers. When one group wants to eat the other, there's naturally going to be conflict. But it's the most boring conflict ever. The character's simply hide in one of two sets and wait to be killed. If you're seeing this because of the great cast, again, don't bother. Here's the screen time breakdown: they probably had Michael Kelly and Robert Carradine for a week, Vinnie Jones for three days, and Michael Madsen for less than a day. That leaves Rider Strong, who is not playing the lead, and Rachel Miner (who after last year's Horrorfest entry I really don't care for). I don't know what is going on with Madsen and Jones, they are capable of much better. And another thing, don't name your characters after cars. Turino and Viper...ridiculous.

An Interesting Survival Tale With a Message

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 10 November 2007]

In the near future (roughly 2012), petroleum production comes to a screeching halt and people turn to killing each other for it, as electricity stops and we are reduced to animal instincts.One group in Philadelphia is holed up in a hospital, which seems to be going fine until there is a breach of security.

If you saw this film at the After Dark Horrorfest, what probably drew you in was the cast. Michael Madsen ("Reservoir Dogs") and Vinnie Jones have smaller roles as cannibals, while the hospital crew includes horror veterans Rider Strong ("Cabin Fever") and Rachel Miner ("Penny Dreadful"). If I wasn't already planning on attending all the films, this would have been my reasoning. And it would pay off, because just like "Penny Dreadful", Rachel Miner continues to be a very strong actress and I hope we see more of her in leading roles.

Alright, horror fans... if you came for sex and blood, you'll get one of the two. The sex scenes are all clean (sorry) but there's plenty of blood. Ax-wielding maniacs, guns, bow and arrows, and a torso slowly roasting over a fire. A broken bone (yuck) and the most disgusting noise I've ever heard involving teeth. There's mild humor (a trumpet player cracked me up) and a really solid plot. Survival horror is a subgenre I've always enjoyed, and I think they really hit the nail on the head with this one. You have a small group of people who really have no chance at all of surviving.

What I enjoyed, beyond the excellent acting, moderate gore, and a very well-thought plot (there's actually layers, thank goodness) was the political and, philosophical and social commentary put in subtly and sometimes not so subtly. There's the obvious call for alternative energy sources (we could run out of oil at any time), but they took it to the next step by explaining where it would lead. There's the social aspects of what happens to people when civilization breaks down, and what the importance of a leader is (we have Professor Darwin at one point, Neon at another, no leader at another point and we see how the leadership or lack thereof differs).

The philosophy aspects have a Nietzsche-inspired undertone. Are we better to be sheep or wolves? Which one is more the moral principle? Safety in numbers or strength through independence? This is explored time and again throughout the film. And what I liked about the exploration is the way it was never really decided one way or the other, a least not obviously. here are strong groups and some strong individuals. One could write a paper on this, and I would if I wasn't so bogged down with other projects.

I expect this to be one of the better films in the 2007 Horrorfest. If any are better (and one or two may be), they're going down in history as some great ones, because this was already a winner. Don't be fooled by the Madsen and James cameos (they're small) if you think that's the reason to watch this. They could easily have made this film without them and lost nothing in the process. This is just solid script-writing, pure and simple. Check it out when you get a chance.

One of the best of the 2nd Annual 8 Films to Die For

[Dragoneyed363 · 7/10 · 5 April 2008]

Tooth and Nail took on a completely different aspect than some other cannibal movies for me, besides Silence of the Lambs of course, and I think it is possibly the most cunning of the 2nd Annuals, Borderland following extremely close behind, or maybe tying. Not too many things were wrong with this film for me except that it was kind of out of the blue how cannibals decided to raid this hospital which supposedly had people in it, and that Michael Madsen did not have as big of a role as I thought he was going to. However, the movie entertains and has a nice execution. It is really exciting and fun to watch. The characters are not really done that well, but they are passable and the script, while lazy, is still decent. I just had a blast watching it. It is not a masterpiece, and never could be quite honestly, but the whole premise is very enjoyable. Tooth and Nail is actually though tied for my favorite Afterdark Horrorfest film overall so far, so it's definitely worth the watch, in my honest opinion.

If anyone tells you this was anything except mediocre, be sure to fight them tooth & nail

[movieman_kev · 4/10 · 18 June 2008]

you can past that the general conceit of the whole film, America turning into a barren wasteland simply because they used up all the oil, is a straw dog impossibility and if you push aside that character's this stupid and ineffective could survive when nearly 2/3rd of the population have passed on, then this certainly had the capacity to be a fun little flick. Now capacity and actuality are two vastly different animals. It doesn't help that the three best actors in the film, Robert Carradine, Micheal Madsen, and Vinnie Jones, are vastly underused. Nor does it bode well that the twists are inane. I didn't completely detest the film and had fun with it up to a point. And while it's among the top of the "8 films to die for", that's more of an indictment on how crappy most of those films were than anything else. This still ranks FAR below "Borderland"

My Grade: C-

Only 94 Minutes??? It seemed like hours...

[FilmFatale · 3/10 · 1 October 2008]

The world goes to hell after the oil supply runs out. A scrappy group of survivors holes up in a Philly hospital to try and rebuild society, but when their security is threatened by a roving band of cannibals, they must fight "tooth and nail" to survive.

First off, even though the run-time is listed as 94 minutes, this thing dragged on forever. Second, the performances were pretty bad, almost a sense of time-delay on some of the character reactions to other characters. There are plot twists, but they're easy to spot from a mile away. And when one character paints herself up in tribal warpaint, you know it's gone from bad to worse. I should have known better, since it's one of the 8 Films to Die for. And why are Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones slumming it here? There are a few decent bloody scenes, so that's why I'm rating it so generously with a three.

Overall, the idea of society collapsing in on itself when the oil supply runs out was a pretty interesting conceit. Make that movie instead.

Waste of actors...and a story for the kids

[xtcklubber · 1/10 · 15 April 2008]

OK, so let's cut it short.

Apocalypse. I understood that part. No petrol. OK, i dig that too. No electricity without fuel ? My intelligence points fingers to the hydro energy, and eolian one. But, it's a movie, so i step over it. Random city - fine with me. They don't have what to eat - mmm, well it was summer and humanity managed to live ~ 4000 years without those specific sources too. Pick the f***ing apple in the tree ??????? Yet again, i'm indulgent, considering it just a small error in brain functioning maybe. OK, monsters kick in (big & stupid kind of human monsters, the message passed to the audience. They are big & got muscles, but that's all, probably). They line up like Australia rugby team. The good guys got a rifle and a gun, yet the rifle isn't used once in the movie.

Pretty much sums it up. Awful waste of time with this movie.

The acting wasn't that bad, but the script is just plain awful. Every single action is predictable.

I wonder how the directors find the necessary money for movies as bad as this one.

Waste of talented actors.

Oh god....

[alansmithee04 · 1/10 · 21 November 2007]

We're deep into student film territory with this one. After an apocalypse in which the world just kinda runs right out of oil (yes, you read that right) a group of college students with names culled from the faculty parking lot are besieged by a handful of extras left over from The Road Warrior.

The students are lead by a slumming Robert Carridine, and Rider Strong is back from his Mexican spring break adventures in Borderland. Among the cannibals are Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones, both playing characters who can be out witted by a 12 year old child.

This film does for peak oil what The Day After Tomorrow did for climate change - set the cause back about ten years. I'm not sure I want to live in a world where everyone above the Mason-Dixon has moved to Tallahasse. In fact, I'm sure I don't.

Great concept...but needs better pacing

[reverendentity · 6/10 · 10 November 2007]

This film makes 3 major points:

1. Peak oil will destroy us all. 2. Women are often stronger and smarter than men in the face of adversity. 3. You never know what you'll be capable of until the feces hit the fan.

If I were going to change anything, it would be the following:

1. The characters' faces should have been dirtier, especially the Rovers.

2. The film's pacing should have been tighter and faster - exposition is great, but too much detracts from the tension (IMO).

Other than that...it's a pretty solid piece of work!

This is just a polished turd

[em89072002 · 2/10 · 7 January 2008]

This movie begins on a weak premise and has a predictable plot with dumb characters. Every aspect seems to be pulled from other films, which is a cheap way to make a movie. This is the kind of movie where time and again you find yourself asking "now where have I seen that before?"

A few of the predictable story elements are as follows. A female member from the much larger cannibal pack infiltrates a young, buff group of survivors hold-up in an abandoned hospital as a wolf in sheep's clothing --- but no character even suspects this. As members start to disappear/be killed, the infiltrator is questioned and found to be with-holding information. But, since the group needs a leader (they're all too dumb to think for themselves) they elect this liar to basically set them up for the kill. The one guy who is smart enough to leave/escape, stupidly returns to rescue a girl who then doesn't want to leave until she can save the rest; the guy stupidly follows and gets killed while saving her sorry back yet again. None of the survivors bother to pick-up a weapon and defend themselves until half of them are already dead. Since it takes place in a hospital/lab setting, someone gets splashed in the face with acid, and some chemicals are used to poison people. For the final battle scene, the girl whose back was saved way too many times stops to put on war paint like in the movie 'Braveheart', and then single-handedly goes off to kill the cannibals as they are cooking her friends body parts over an open fire. Just when you think it's over, you see that there is one cannibal still alive which implies the real horror of a sequel.

A future where the strong will only survive

[das417 · 7/10 · 17 May 2008]

The end of gasoline and oil means the end of civilization. The world destroys itself as billions attempt to feed and shelter themselves as governments fall and anarchy takes over. Survivors are few and far in between (which seems questionable but that will come later) and one such group in particular will face a new horror even more terrifying than a world without gas.

When a young woman named Neon (Rachel Miner) is discovered by a group of survivors hiding out in a Philadelphia hospital she is taken in and cared for though some of the small group, such as Ford (Rider Strong) and Viper (Michael Kelly), object to her inclusion while others such as Dakota (Nicole DuPort) and Darwin (Robert Carradine), welcome her. The world is dying and wisdom would suggest that the more people there are working together, the more everyone will benefit. The idea sounds reasonable but since this is one of the "8 Films to Die For", we know that something will go wrong.

A group known as the Rovers, a band of modern day men and women who look to be the modern day equivalent of Vikings or other medieval barbarians, are cannibals who spare no one in their attempt to feed themselves. When they begin picking off the small group of survivors one by one it is realized that there is little hope for survival. Ford, Dakota, and the others are outnumbered and have fewer weapons. Worse, it seems that Neon is the actual leader of the Rovers and it was her who led them to the group. They are her latest prey and she is determined to consume them.

The group is nearly eliminated but quick thinking by Dakota defeats the barbarous Neon and her Rovers. After a bloodbath where Dakota kills one Rover after another by herself (the group had been drugged after consuming the poisoned bodies of Ford and another survivor) the ultimate confrontation between Dakota and Neon occurs. Before her death Neon learns that all of her talk of survival of the fittest is true. Dakota, it seems, was the strongest and it was she who won in the end.

I question how the end of gasoline would really destroy the modern world at least as far as Tooth & Nail portray. Society would fall apart but I don't see how humanity could become as backward as to begin eating itself in order to survive. However, Tooth & Nail is entertaining though again like most horror movies it is rather predictable and the gore eventually wears off. A good direct to DVD movie, "8 Films to Die For" should release more like it if it wants to continue to be a successful franchise.

7/10

Painful........ Like stabbing yourself in the eye with a sharp object!

[cat_allin · 1/10 · 25 April 2008]

After watching another title in the Afterdark HorrorFest series and really enjoying it, I thought I would give Tooth and Nail a try. Now I have seen a lot of bad movies over the years, this has definitely got to be the worst. I am surprised Michael Madsen and Vinne Jones even agreed to appear in this turkey. I am thinking it must have been shot on a really tight budget as we were constantly shown the same shots from the outside, and also the same areas inside the building, despite the building being huge.

There is no atmosphere, the acting is worse then terrible, there is no

pace,and very little in the way of action.And the least scary 'bad guys' you are ever likely to see.

A plot, which could have had a lot of potential, which was full of promise in the blurb,was truly worse then terrible. And when played out on screen it was so so so predictable. This movie should be avoided at all costs, as you will be cheated out of time you will never get back.

Solid horror film but it needed more gore..

[gorefan82 · 9/10 · 19 March 2008]

I went into to this movie excited. I knew it would be good and it was. I was a little disappointed in the medium pace and moderate gore, but the story was well thought out and the acting was excellent. The atmosphere of the movie was very eerie and the music intensified it quite well. Me being a blood and gore freak, I expected more. It did have some good scenes but this kind of movie calls for more. But I still enjoyed it no doubt. I thought it was solid. I do wish it would have sped up a little as it did drag here and there. But it didn't really take away from the suspense. I like Robert Carradine and Rider strong. I felt Carradine should have had a bigger role, but sadly he didn't. His death scene was pretty cool though. I thought it was the best of the film. Overall I thought it was a good solid horror thriller that had good atmosphere and great acting. Well worth a watch.

This my be the final nail in Madsens' coffin

[bigdarvick · 27 March 2008]

Michael Madsen is a fine actor, even though he's the same guy in every single role, but his association with this mega bomb may finally, have done him in. The dialog in Tooth and Nail is so poorly written, that I was laughing out loud at scenes that were supposed to invoke pathos. The premise of this movie is so stupid, that even an eight year old would find fault in its logic. It's kind of a pity to see guys like Madsen and Jones in a piece of crap like Tooth and Nail and makes you wonder who the hell talked them into it. The only redeeming aspect of this film was the DVD cover design, which was misleading at best. 8 Films to Die For, whose choices included some great, quirky horror in the past, has lost credibility in my book (of the undead of course).

A great cast wasted on a mediocre film

[Shattered_Wake · 6/10 · 27 July 2008]

In a post-apocalyptic world, a world destroyed by our running out of gas, a group of survivors take in an injured woman after finding her boyfriend murdered. Soon after, a gang of murderous cannibals attack their hospital seeking a new food source.

With what is probably the best cast of either years of the After Dark Horrorfest, Tooth & Nail stars Rider Strong, Robert Carradine, Michael Madsen, Michael Kelly, Rachel Miner, and Vinnie Jones. The story isn't anything special: A group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world fight for their lives against a gang of murderous cannibals. Been done. A lot. But, hey, it's a good concept that, if properly executed, can make for a hell of a film. And Mark Young doesn't do too bad with the execution. He converts my home state of Pennsylvania into a convincing apocalyptic landscape. . . doesn't say much about my home state, eh? Though his direction was apt, the writing left a lot to be desired. Funny, yes, that they used car names for the characters in a movie about the world's oil running out. . . but, that's about where the good writing ended. The dialogue didn't work well with the characters, nor did it fit many of the incredible circumstances. It wasn't bad writing, really, just wasn't very good. Many of the actors (including the 'bigger' names) seemed to lack proper timing, especially Rider Strong whom I usually trust to deliver at least an appropriate performance. The timing with his dialogue was way off at times and would throw off the scene quite a bit. Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones, two of the biggest badasses in the business, were great even though Vinnie was DRASTICALLY underused. Beyond the acting, there was plenty of bad: the pacing is not the best and I occasionally became bored with it; the characters often made extremely idiotic decisions (let me throw down my bow & arrow and fight this 6'5", 300 lb. viking barehanded!); the so-called resourceful group of survivors weren't really very resourceful at all (let us only rely on the pre-made weapons and not try to do anything creative. . . like using some rubbing alcohol to make Molotov cocktails or something). I did, however, like the heroine's resourcefulness at the end. But the 'final shot' seemed very. . . cheap haunted house to me, if that makes sense. Coming together, the film is pretty much entirely mediocre. As an After Dark Horrorfest film, yes, it's one of the higher end ones. . . but, in the end, it's nothing really special.

Final verdict: 5.5/10. Worth one watch, but not much else.

Not Horrible, Just...Okay

[lovecraft231 · 5/10 · 28 March 2008]

The apocalypse has occurred, only not due to nuclear war or global warming-we just ran out of oil. Anyways, A group of survivors find a girl(Rachel Miner), and take her in. Unfortunately, they have also found themselves under siege thanks to a gang of cannibals (which include Vinnie Jones and Michael Madsen) who look like they just walked off the set of "The Road Warrior."

Best described as "The Hills Have Eyes" meets a "Mad Max" knock off, "Tooth & Nail" is a mixed bag that can best be described a a movie that doesn't live up to it's full potential. While the acting is good (Who knew Rider Strong would turn out to be such a good actor?), and the kills and gore are impressive, the movie suffers from some poorly done twists. Okay, the twist at the films conclusion isn't too bad, but the other twist in the film can be seen miles away.

Another problem is the way that it wastes Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, and Robert Carradine in their roles. Watching the movie, you feel like you should have gotten more of these guys. A shame really.

In the end, "Tooth & Nail", in spite of a few scares, some good acting, and nice gore, is hurt by a sense of wasted potential. It's not a horrible move, or even a bad one, it's just an okay movie.